Event – Syria’s Health: Assessing the last four years

Location: Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London.

Date: Monday 9 March, 18:00

The Syrian conflict has resulted in the internal displacement of over 7.5 million people with an additional 3 million refugees in front-line neighbouring states. Over 250,000 people have died as a result of armed conflict, with potentially over a million severely injured. Four years into this complex conflict there is still an urgent need for policy and research attention in order to generate more timely and high quality evidence on the effectiveness of the humanitarian health response, the capacity of the multiple health systems within Syria as well as the health needs situation among IDPs and refugees. Many less visible and untreated non-communicable disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and mental health issues are also highly prevalent in Syria and have caused the deaths and disability of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees in Syria

At this event, experts from across the humanitarian sphere will critically evaluate the health situation inside Syria, the region and the humanitarian response.  The aim is to draw attention to the future challenges facing the humanitarian community and how research may be used in adapting the response.

Key speakers include:

Jesse Erin Berns is an Epidemiologist for Medecins Sans Frontieres.  In this role, she has worked throughout the Middle East, sub-saharan Africa, and Latin America in response to conflict, disaster, and infectious disease outbreaks.  Most recently, Jesse has worked in the Middle East assessing the health needs of Syrian conflict-related displaced persons.  Jesse also functions currently as the technical lead for the MSF Switzerland Health Information System project.

Omar Abdul Gabbar (FRCS Ed Trauma and Orthopaedics) is a consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon at University Hospitals, Leicester. He was born in Lincoln and grew up in Syria where he qualified from the University of Aleppo, Syria in 1991. He trained at Aleppo University Hospital and South Trent before being appointed as a consultant in 2006. He has made several trips to work with Syrian refugees and is the former head of the medical committee of Hand in Hand for Syria, a UK registered charity with which he remains active.

Dr Fouad M. Fouad is a Syrian physician and general surgeon. He is currently an assistant research professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut. In Syria he was the coordinator and researcher at the NIH-funded tobacco and public health research center in Aleppo, Syria as well as Director of Public Health in Aleppo. In collaboration with colleagues from LSHTM, his research focuses on the health effects of displacement inside Syria and to neighbouring countries. His current research focuses on the role of international organisations in strengthening health systems. Fouad is the lead author in a recent UN-ESCWA publication which examines future policy options for health system rebuilding in post conflict Syria.

This event is organised by the Public Health in Humanitarian Crises Group at LSHTM and RSM Global Health.

For more information and to register, click here.